Baby Bristol: 1957 Berkeley SE 492 Sports

If the price tag of the AC Bristol was a little overwhelming for you, then you may want to consider this little guy. We admit that a Berkely isn’t anything like an AC Bristol, but if you squint really hard maybe it could look similar. About the only thing these two cars really have in common is that they were both have racing history. This 1957 Berkeley SE 492 still has its Brooklands screen, roll bar, and racing numbers. It is located in Oklahoma and is for sale here on eBay with bidding starting at $2,000 and a BIN of $3,895.

The seller of this Berkeley makes some big claims. Lowest mileage 1950s barn find sports car ever? We are not sure about that. It was a race car though, so 483 original miles on a track only could be reasonable. Dave Dooley was the second owner and felt that it needed a little more power, so he installed a Triumph 650cc engine. Hence the need for the big hole in the hood. Some of the history sounds like assumptions, but it would be interesting to try to piece it all together.

Sadly this car has spent a few years out in the elements. Luckily the chassis is aluminum and the body is molded out of fiberglass. The engine is long gone, but the rest of the car looks complete. If you are truly interested in this project, it might be a good idea to pick this one up too and maybe then you would have enough parts to build one car. If you know anything about this little racer, please share.